Raja Soliman

Miguel Lopez de Legazpi, the Spanish conqueror of the Philippines, founded Manila as a fortified colony in 1571, after defeating the forces of the Muslim ruler Rajah Soliman. In 1601 a seminary for nobles, the first educational institution in the country, was established at Manila by the Jesuits. From the 16th to early 19th centuries, Manila played an important role in trade as a stopover port for the Manila galleons, huge trading ships that profited greatly from trade between China and Mexico. During this time, Chinese merchants settled in Manila and became middlemen for other trade from China. By the 1590s the Chinese had become an economically important community. Many Chinese, aware of the political and social advantages enjoyed by the Roman Catholics in the colony, converted to Catholicism and married Filipino women. Many